Information

We'll be closed from August 23 through September 5 due to travel to China, so any orders placed in that time won't be shipped until September 6.

-BB

News - December 21, 2012

We're officially on winter break from December 22nd through January 2nd. We'll be back to filling orders on January 3rd. Happy holidays!

-BB

News - November 21, 2012

For anybody considering making an order in the next few days, be sure to get it in within the next few hours, as we'll be closing today at noon EST for Thanksgiving. We'll be back in business on Monday.

-BB

News - August 24, 2012

There's a lot of news to report since the last post! Let's start out with the new products, as well as the not-so-new products that haven't gotten a proper introduction.

Up first is the nRF24LU1+ USB Dongle. This guy has a built-in bootloader that allows you to write to the flash memory over USB on your computer using libusb (a bootloader is linked in the product description).

Of course there's an RP-SMA version, too (wow, somebody needs to fire the photography department for this one ;-) ).

For those who need tons of I/O pins, here's a breakout of Nordic's nRF24LE1 48-pin variant. The guts are identical to the other nRF24LE1 breakouts, except that this one has 31 GPIO pins!

The RP-SMA version for those in need of long range.

Up next is the MAX31855 SPI Thermocouple Breakout. This guy can take readings with 14-bit accuracy from a K-type thermocouple, and then you can read them out over SPI into your favorite microcontroller.

Speaking of K-type thermocouple, we have a 3-foot long one that you can hook directly into the MAX31855 Breakout above.

For the fans of remote controls, we now have a key fob design that is based off the 24-pin nRF24LE1 chip. It essentially mimics SparkFun's protocol, except it sends messages for both pressed and released statuses of the buttons, so that you can now tell if a button is being held.

In order to round-out the full wireless audio path, we have added breakouts for Wolfson's WM8737 low-power ADC and WM8711BL low-power DAC. Both can be controlled with SPI or I2C, and have an I2S audio interface to communicate with the nRF24Z1 (or DSP, or whatever you want to handle audio). The WM8737 Breakout in all its glory:

And the WM8711BL Breakout:

I think that covers all of the new products. We are announcing a new consulting service in addition to our web store. If you feel like you need some help with your product, whether it be a concept, in-progress, or near-completion, we can help you get it done right! For more information on the consulting service, click here.

As for software, a new version of the nRF24LE1 SDK has been uploaded. It contains a ton of new features, including low-power modes, I2C, and many others. About the only thing that's not included in this one is slave SPI, and I expect so few people to use it (myself included), that it's really not worth developing an API for. Get it here.

And last, but certainly not least, version 3 of the PC bootloader app has been completed. It greatly reduces CPU load when using the terminal, and also allows for sending files over the UART. Get it here.

-BB

News - July 30, 2011

I just noticed that there's a major bug in the PC bootloader application I released a couple of weeks ago. I have fixed the bug, and you can get the latest version here.

So I wanted to let everybody know I've released a new version of the PC-side bootloader. The new version adds a terminal, so now you don't have to keep switching back and forth to program the device. Also, the code works natively in Linux (tested with Ubuntu 11.04). You just have to run the executable with mono (not wine, it doesn't work this way for me...this is how it gets run if you just double click it). You can download it here.

Check out a screen shot here:

EDIT: After typing the post, I thought about a few things to add. First, you can leave the terminal open while you program the device (you don't have to close the terminal first to program the device). The app will handle opening/closing the serial port automatically.

Also, I have a very small shell script in the bin directory that Linux (and Mac OS, I would presume) users can use to run the executable with mono. To run the command, open up a terminal and then cd to //nrf24lu1_bootloader_pc/nrf24lu1_programmer/bin/Debug and run the script nrf24lu1_programmer (*NOT* nrf24lu1_programmer.exe).

Finally, if for some reason you have to forcibly kill the program in Linux, you will have to manually delete the lock file for the serial port you are using. The lock file location and name will be listed in the output box of the programmer app.

-BB

News - July 11, 2011

Yes, I know that I'm not terribly prolific in postings. But here are a few new products to tickle your fancy!

This is a breakout of Nordic's nRF24Z1 audio streamer IC. It allows inputs up to 24 bits at 96 kHz, and can output up to 16 bits at 48 kHz (which is still higher than CD quality). It can handle both S/PDIF and I2S input and output, and doesn't actually require a microcontroller to work (it can read its settings from an external EEPROM).

And the obligatory RP-SMA version, too!

For those interested in capacitive touch sensors, this one should fit the bill! It has a built-in sensor "button", and it only needs 4 pins to work - VCC, GND, a mode pin, and an output (to your microcontroller, LED, etc.)!

-BB

News - October 13, 2010

It's been a few months, but I've got a few new products to offer!

This is the breakout for the 24-pin version Nordic's nRF24LE1 microcontroller. It's just like the 32-pin variety, except it has 7 GPIO pins and 7 ADC inputs (plus a smaller footprint and lower cost).

Don't forget to check out the RP-SMA version, too!

For those interested in the SDKs, I have updated both the nRF24LE1 SDK and the cryptography SDK to version 2.0. This version includes adding the LGPL 2.1 license for those confused about what the license may be (hat tip to ksinkar for recommending it in a comment here).

With this release, there has also been a fairly major change in the compilation sequence. For those compiling/linking against the libraries, it is only a directory change, but with this change I have (hopefully) made it easier to compile both libraries for different compilers and different chip targets. For example, it should be able to add nRF24LU1 support into this library and add a different compile target now. The include directory is in the same place, but the lib directory has been moved to /_target_sdcc_nrf24le1/lib (you will have to update your link step to point to this directory instead of the old one).

Those are the only changes for the cryptography SDK, but the 2.0 release of the nRF24LE1 SDK also contains a few bug fixes plus support for timer 2. The timer 2 code is a bit experimental, so there will likely be a 2.1 release to fix any issues I find with it, and there's also a little remaining functionality I want to add.

For anyone interested, I am considering making an Arduino Uno board clone that contains the 48-pin version of the nRF24LE1. It has plenty of I/O and ADC inputs, the only problem is that it is *not* 5V-tolerant on either GPIO or ADC inputs, so I am contemplating either adding 5V-tolerant circuitry either to the main board or putting it on a shield that would plug into the main board. Any suggestions would certainly be appreciated!

-BB

News - June 21, 2010

For all of those interested, I have been working on an SDK for the nRF24LE1 chip to use with SDCC. I mainly wrote it for my purposes, but I want to release what I have written. The code is public domain, but I would definitely appreciate it if you linked back to the site if you use it in a project! The nRF24LE1 SDCC SDK lives here.

As it stands, not all of the hardware systems have been implemented (the most glaring omission is probably I2C). Also, some of the subsystems have not been fully tested (the power control block being one of them). If there are any bugs, feel free to let me know.

For those interested, there is a second SDK that I'm releasing (currently set up to build with SDCC for the 24LE1, but can be reconfigured). I have fully implemented AES in this SDK, as well as ported my ARC4 implementation (and made it object-oriented, as well). That library can be found here. It is released under the same terms as the nRF24LE1 SDK.

The AES library can be configured to use the nRF24LE1's built-in AES hardware accelerator or to use an included library function that does the Galois multiplication in software. This means that you can also use the same AES implementation with other microcontrollers than the 24LE1, since it doesn't tie you to using the hardware accelerator. This should make it easier if you're using the 24LE1 as a data collection node that reports information wirelessly to a more powerful central microcontroller, but you want the central microcontroller to also be able to encrypt/decrypt AES data.

If youIf you want to use these libraries, you have to let SDCC know where to find the header files and libraries. For the compile step, you should add "-I [PathToLibrary]/include" (without quotes) to your command line. For the link step, you should add "-L [PathToLibrary]/lib" (without quotes) to your command line. Replace "[PathToLibrary]" with whatever the path is to the top level of the library on your system (including the top level folder, which would be either nrf24le1_sdk or cryptography).

-BB

News - November 30, 2009

We're pleased to announce a 10% discount off your entire order for Cyber Monday! There is no minimum or maximum order total, but the coupon is limited to one redemption per customer and in-stock items. Just enter coupon code "DECM" (without the quotes) at the end of your checkout to redeem!

-BB

News - November 16, 2009

So it's been a really long time since I posted anything, so I figured what better way than with some new goodies

This is the breakout for Nordic's nRF24LE1 microcontroller. It's got an 8051 core and a 24L01+ radio on the chip, in addition to 15 GPIO, 11 ADC inputs, PWM, SPI, UART, 2-wire, and a bunch of other goodies!

And, as usual, there is the RP-SMA version for those who need more range than the chip antenna version can offer.

-BB

News - September 8, 2009

After a few months of toying with the nRF24Z1 boards, I haven't been able to get any consistency. So after really digging into the schematic and layout, it appears that I made the footprint of the package too small. A few pins aren't making sufficient contact, though it can vary from board to board. This will be corrected when I get my next spin of them, which should be shortly.

-BB

News - March 2, 2009

All products now have at least some quantity. As an update on other projects, the FOB layout is complete, and I'm going to start work on the 24LE1 stamp soon. I'm also trying to get a schematic for a hardware programmer for the 24LU1/24LE1 chips up and running. I have built two 24Z1 breakouts so far, but one of the boards turned out to be a dud. I haven't gotten to test the other one besides verifying that it powers up without letting out the smoke, but it already looks better than the first. :)

-BB

News - February 10, 2009

All apologies for all that are expecting new products. I'm trying to perfect reflow soldering of the boards right now, and it's taking me more time than expected. I am hoping to have boards for the 24LU1 variants by tomorrow. The 24L01+ boards may take a little longer because I haven't received the stencil for them yet.

For those interested, I currently am testing boards for the Nordic nRF24Z1 audio streamer and the Wolfson WM8737 audio ADC. Hopefully those will be online in the coming weeks if they work correctly.

I currently am in the planning phase for adding breakouts for at least one of the 3 nRF24LE1 chips (probably the one with the most IO pins). I also am looking intodeveloping a small programming/serial interface board for the 24LU1 Stamp boards. Another project in planning is a FOB module with the smallest of the 24LE1 chips mounted on it. It has also been suggested that there should be a variant with a PIC or some other micro on it, and I'm taking that into consideration.